North Sea Whisky

After last week’s review of the 2021 Kilchoman Feis Ile release, I’ve decided to crack open my samples for the upcoming Founders Cask tasting early. The whiskies are:

Kilchoman Cask 2008/93 – Fresh Bourbon Cask, 100% Islay (17-18yo)

Kilchoman Cask 2006/16 – Fresh Bourbon Cask (19-20yo)

Kilchoman Cask 2009/437 – Refill Oloroso Butt, 100% Islay (16-17yo)

Kilchoman 2007/421 – Fresh Oloroso Butt (18-19yo)

… giving me the opportunity to compare two excellent 100% Islay casks (Kilchoman’s own barley smoked with local peat from Islay) with liquid of a similar age made with commercially available barley. The difference is drastic. 

As an avid brewer (among other related hobbies), I’ve long held that barley varieties have the biggest impact on the quality of whisky, more than the yeast, fermentation times, cask type or other variables. Sadly, this has also been a focus for modern cost optimisation.

It’s wonderful to see that although Kilchoman uses modern barley varieties, the local environmental conditions, the way the crop is processed and the provenance of the peat result in a distillate that is night and day with the bought-in barley. Both are excellent, they’re just totally different styles – with the local barley creating a more complex, rustic and interesting spirit, which seems to mature into a more old-style whisky. The refill butt especially has a very special, 1960s feel. My preference for this grainier and more textured style is entirely personal.

I will be tasting some other, more available Kilchoman releases in the next post.

Kilchoman Cask 2008/93 – Fresh Bourbon Cask, 100% Islay

Rating: 90

First glance: Straw

Nose: Highly concentrated and somewhat alcoholic at first, will definitely need water. At 17-18 years old, this is my oldest Kilchoman so far – until the next glass. Definitely doesn’t scream its age, this could be a much younger whisky – but there are definite tertiary aromas which I have not encountered in young Kilchoman.

It’s intensely waxy, with dirty motor oil aromas not familiar from Caol Ila or Lagavulin. Water shows a soft grassiness mixed with purple florals and bitter oranges. An impression of synthetic civet, mixing sweetness and animal dirtiness. Subtle aquatic impressions of cucumber, watermelon and courgette. Halva and other nutty, middle-eastern treats. Acts its age now. 

Palate: Light, but intensely waxy. Following on from the nose with blueberries, lilac, fish oil and all other kinds of gunk. Grows beautifully from a fruity start to an alpine development of grass, fir needles and sweet coniferous resins. Roll it around on the tongue for complex maritime-mineral flavours and a wonderfully round texture. Finishes medium-long, coating, murky and waxy. A surprising spicy kick at the very end. 

Conclusion: It’s not always the case that age concentrates the fruit notes, not even in good maturations. I’d say this has roughly the same ester concentration as younger bottlings, but time has done wonders for the heavier notes in this quiet and understated bottling. Excellent!

Definitely sits in the same family of grain-forward waxy and mineralic whiskies like Bruichladdich. I wonder if the locally grown barley has anything to do with it. 

Kilchoman Cask 2006/16 – Fresh Bourbon Cask

Rating: 90

First glance: Let’s go with… gold

Nose: How different this is! A heady concentration of top notes, with fruit and grasses first. A Scottish Rhum Agricole. More vibrant, perhaps narrower, feels much more like an old whisky. The peat feels darker and drier than the homegrown variant, less oily, with less overall peatiness as well. A little floral impression still, mixed with the powerful tropical fruit. These fruit are of the tart greenish type that we all love from old distillates.

Palate: A honeyed, fruity and grassy concoction, with peat revealing itself in the mid-palate. Obviously less textured, with comparatively limited grain complexity in the waxy-earthy-mineral notes. It’s syrupy both in texture and taste, leafy (in the intense greenness of fresh leaves rather than poor sherry casks), and just sweet and round and pleasant and wholesome. Lovely acidity in the finish, with the green fruits really carrying through, and sticking in the retronasal for a while.

Conclusion: A totally different style, showing much more age and polish, but also less grain complexity. The 100% Islay from ’08 was a tough show to follow, but this did admirably. I suspect most fans would prefer the 2006, but I naturally gravitate towards the more textured style of the ’08 – still, these fruits and grasses are very special in a modern whisky!

Kilchoman Cask 2009/437 – Refill Oloroso Butt, 100% Islay

Rating: 91

First glance: Copper

Nose: Grassy, floral, mineral. Just this incredible sense of a whisky that bridges between the 1960s and the modern stuff. Subtle sherry, subtle peat, like those old bottles of JW Black Label you can get at auction for a steal. You can even get a hint of the metallic tang those old blends have after 50-60 years in the bottle. This is of course fresher, with its elemental malt flavours still alive.

Water reveals a fatter, waxier side, though it’s obviously narrower than its bourbon cask counterpart – sherry does that. There’s gentle honey, cigar tobacco, a strong but unintrusive backbone of oak spice. 

Palate: Light to medium weight, with a full, fatty-waxy texture that carries flavour well. Again, similar to those old blends, but with more power – some of the tannins are still unoxidised… Beautiful mix of sherry, wood and a soft, dirty peatiness. Purple florals, grass, moving through mango and other tropical fruits in the mid-palate. It’s almost silky. 

A warming surge of spices, sherry and peat at the finish, this one has some punch. Lingers for a long time with black pepper, grass and the subtlest fruits.

Conclusion: I have not tasted this profile in a 21st century whisky before. Shows what modern distillers are capable of when they really care about quality.

Kilchoman 2007/421 – Fresh Oloroso Butt

Rating: 89

First glance: Slightly paler in the sample bottle, but basically identical in the glass

Nose: Aha! Similar story to the bourbon cask made of commercial barley. It’s grassier, fruitier, juicier and less textured.I know we’re all supposed to pretend to be offended by “smooth”, but this is absolutely smoother. Alcohol shows more as well. Again a very rummy, mentholated grass kind of aroma. 

A little wax shows with water, which is nice. It’s beautiful – balanced, fresh and articulate. And they’ve obviously emptied the sherry butt properly, distillate comes first. As with its bourbon sibling, the aromatic impact is concentrated in the top notes, with limited complexity in the heavier aromas.

Palate: Silky-smooth, with decently oily texture. Honey, malt, just the softest hint of sherry. Less spicy than the refill butt. Fewer exotic fruits as well, with a more standard modern-sherry-dark-fruit profile. Finishes mentholic, soft, with an impression of honeyed malt and conifers. It has faint hints of that old-style complexity that the refill had, just much less of it.

Conclusion: Still very, very good.